EJEL Special Issue: 7 th European Conference on Game-Based Learning-ECGBL 2013 Held at Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP), Porto, Portugal 3-4 October 2013 Editorial by the Guest Editors (original) (raw)

This issue of EJEL is dedicated to Game-Based Learning and, in particular, to ECGBL 2013-the 7 th European Conference on Game-Based Learning. Therefore, we would like to thank the editors of EJEL for allowing us to promote an important area of the use of technology for learning in such a relevant journal. Games are structured contexts where the player has clear objectives, with victory as the end goal. The player must solve problems, overcome challenges and face opponents (real or game characters) but always respecting a clearly-defined set of rules. More than simple entertainment contexts, games have been shown to promote learning and the development of personal and social skills like socialization, teamwork, leadership, decision making and collaborative learning. Therefore they have been successfully used in training, in formal education (classroom and school context) and also in non-formal education (outside the school context). The European Conference on Game-Based Learning-ECGB...